Increasing global travel and rapid viral evolution continues to fuel annual flu epidemics. While widespread public health vaccination campaigns help prevent some infections, the efficacy of the vaccine varies – depending on the dominant strains each year.

An estimated 45 million Americans were infected by the influenza virus in the 2017-2018 season resulting in over 800,000 hospitalizations and 61,000 deaths. In 2020 28.2 million Americans contracted SARS-CoV-2, resulting in 500,000 deaths. Worldwide, 112 million have tested COVID positive, and over 2.4 million have died.

The Seraph Research team is developing new treatments to reduce the severity and length of infection and help prevent the high number of deaths each year.